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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Earlier Days

Children are Being Victimized

There are a disturbing amount of children who are being victimized. We see it often on the news. This prompted me to attend a 40-hour advocacy training to learn more about sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, and other social issues. The training was provided by Sexual Assault Services (S.A.S.) of Calhoun County.

When I first saw the news on WWMT, I was shocked. Michael Terpening, owner of Earth Services was arrested for multiple sexual crimes against youth placed in his care. He adopted my friend's five children.

I shared the story on Facebook, with a comment about why the state is taking kids from not-so-good homes and putting them into worse homes. A friend of mine contacted me and told me she has known him for a long time, and it was impossible that he could have committed these crimes. I didn't necessarily buy it, but I know the constitution says, "innocent until proven guilty."

Another experience I previously had with Michael was in regards to my dog, Lucky. A domestic dispute caused me to be between apartments for a couple months. Michael arranged foster care for my dog and did not charge me adoption fees to get him back. I was grateful to him for this, as I still have that dog.

Every week, I checked the news to see what was happening with Terpening's case.

Victim Recants Story

Then, one day, I saw one of the victims on the news telling the reporter that he had lied to get out of the facility. I did not know what to think. At first, I figured something Terpening did instigated all these charges because the story would not be all over the news the way it was. But now, the victim was recanting?